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Topic: Six too few....ten too many? |
Tony Boadle
From:
Skibbereen, County Cork, Ireland
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Posted 3 Mar 2016 1:20 am |
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If you have five minutes, I'd appreciate a little input here. I'm primarily a banjo picker, I play Bluegrass/Celtic crossover in local bars and have a lot of fun. Having said that, for recreation at home I love playing lap steel.I started, as so many banjo pickers seem to, with a square neck reso, straight GBDGBD. I then discovered the joys of C6th on a regular lap steel.This then led to the discovery of the Deusenberg Multibender....wow! PSG sounds on a lap steel! Then I added my own pedals and a lever, and was now playing my own 6 string E6th PSG. Recently I took the plunge and now have a fine Maverick as well, ideal for my level of picking, and more than enough for me , for now anyway.
The reason for this post? I find when I'm playing lap steel now, I feel limited and restricted, yet when I'm playing the PSG, I miss the ease and simplicity of the 6_string. Should I divide my time between both or should I concentrate on one or the other? I've even considered setting my reso up for C6th, at least that would reduce the instrument options from three to two! The SGF has been a great source of advice, support, encouragement, criticism and guidance.I'd be keen to hear from others who may have been down this road.
I should point out that I'm of a certain age, happy to be picking at home as much as in public, and forever grateful that I've been able to enjoy the benefits (both social and financial) of playing instruments over the last forty years. Thanks for your time, hopefully you'll be able to make some sense of my post! 😕 |
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Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
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Posted 3 Mar 2016 1:34 am
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Well if you take a look at the 10 string E9th tuning it's really nothing more than a 6 string tuning with two above and two below.
You could play an entire night on strings 3 thru 8...and I seriously doubt that anyone would even know.
I would say , don't get wrapped up in the number of strings. If you like 6 then go with 6, but 10 allows you to literally stretch your creativity well outside the box as you grow your skill set.
The 6 string guitar has , well, 6 strings , as well as 20 or 21 frets, but yet there are millions of people who play D,A and G down there on the 2nd fret and never go past that position, and don't care to...
So is it the number of strings or the player ?
These guys all play the exact same 6 string tuning,
Dylan
Clapton
Benson
Hendrix
Mason
Methany
Haggard
Bo Diddly
the 12 year old girl next door
and on and on...
_________________
Emmons L-II , Fender Telecasters, B-Benders , Eastman Mandolin ,
Pro Tools 12 on WIN 7 !
jobless- but not homeless- now retired 9 years
CURRENT MUSIC TRACKS AT > https://tprior2241.wixsite.com/website |
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Jeff Mead
From:
London, England
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Posted 3 Mar 2016 2:27 am Re: Six too few....ten too many?
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| Tony Boadle wrote: |
| Should I divide my time between both or should I concentrate on one or the other? I've even considered setting my reso up for C6th, at least that would reduce the instrument options from three to two! |
My journey in this instrument has taken me from 10 string pedal steel (for a very short while until I realised that wasn't what Don Helms used on the old Hank stuff and I was totally overwhelmed by it anyway) to 6 string lap steel to triple 8 to a double 8 pedal steel (too heavy to even carry from one room to the other so spent most of its time under the bed) to 6 string pedal steel to quad 8 string and most recently back to 10 string pedal steel which I am actually learning and playing this time. Actually, apart from the first PSG and the double 8 PSG (which I sold recently to finance my new PSG), this was a cumulative thing and have ended up owning and using all of them. I even used the 6 string PSG on a gig a couple of weeks back.
At all points along the way, I still found plenty of occasions when my little 6 string lap steel was just the tool for the job. In fact, I'm playing on Saturday and my BR-9 will be with me, so don't neglect it.
One suggestion - how about tuning your 6 stringers to A6 with high A (high to low A E C# A F# E)? It won't be completely alien to you as the bottom 4 strings have the same intervals as the top 4 of your C6, just 3 semitones lower in pitch (bottom 5 same as your top 5 if you use C6 with a high G).
The reason for this is that every single thing you learn on your six stringer will be playable in the same way on strings 3-8 of your 10 stringer with the A&B pedals down (and vice versa). This has saved me from disaster on the PSG on more than one occasion as, if (when!) I get lost, I can just stomp on my A&B pedals and go into lap steel mode for a while. Nobody else seems to notice  |
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Lane Gray
From:
Topeka, KS
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Mike Perlowin
From:
Los Angeles CA
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Scott Duckworth
From:
Etowah, TN Western Foothills of the Smokies
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Posted 3 Mar 2016 12:37 pm
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I believe I could get by with 8 strings (maybe 7), 3 pedals, and two knees. That's about all I use on my 10 string 3 & 3 anyway.
_________________
Amateur Radio Operator NA4IT (Extra)
http://www.qsl.net/na4it
I may, in fact, be nuts. However, I am screwed onto the right bolt... Jesus! |
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Tony Boadle
From:
Skibbereen, County Cork, Ireland
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Posted 3 Mar 2016 4:40 pm
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| Thanks, as always, for all the replies, plenty to think about......I'm working on the middle six on the Maverick, and venturing into the other four now and again, finding what works and what doesn't....it's a start! |
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